Officer-involved shooting ruled suicide

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The death of a Grass Valley man who exchanged shots with Grass Valley Police Department officers was ruled a suicide, according to a news release issued by the District Attorney Cliff Newell.

Rod Dankers’ death was determined to be a suicide by the forensic pathologist and the Nevada County Coroner, the release states.

The May 17, 2012 incident was originally labelled an officer involved shooting, but the investigation concluded that after exchanging shots with police, Dankers fled on foot, “engaging officers in a short running gun battle”, before he “ultimately succumbed to a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.”

Dankers, a Nevada County resident, was involved in a transaction for the sale of a 25 pounds of marijuana that resulted in a physical altercation prior to a police chase that took officers through Bennett Street and Highway 174.

“Evidence at the scene showed both officers discharged their duty weapons multiple times and Dankers fired multiple rounds from the guns he was carrying,” the release states. “The autopsy indicated that the wounds suffered from the Officer’s weapons were survivable if treated but, the single shot to the head was not.”

No criminal charges will be filed against the GVPD officers involved in the shooting, the release states.